Spirits' Day
by Lil-Samuu
Summary: Pre-game fluff featuring Lloyd, Colette, Genis, Dirk and Noishe. Set around the Symphonia world's equivalent of Halloween.


Pre-game fluff featuring Lloyd, Colette, Genis, Dirk and Noishe. Set around the Symphonia world's equivalent of Halloween. Kinda imagined a bit of a mash-up of a mix of traditions from various festivals around that time of year and decided to go with the name "Spirits' Day" as that seemed to fit with where some traditions seem to come from and the Symphonia world.

Makes a quick reference to one of my other fics ("Cooking Together") but it works as a stand-alone thing, you don't have to have read that for this to make sense.

For Darkhymns. Happy birthday!

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

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Lloyd tilted his head to one side slightly as he spotted the thoughtful look on Colette's face.

"Are you OK?" he asked quietly, making her jump slightly as she hadn't noticed him walking up to her.

"I, I'm fine," she stuttered, her expression switching to a smiling one.

Lloyd frowned a little then spotted what some of the other children in the classroom were doing, looking at fabric that they'd put in piles on their desks.

"Everyone's thinking about their Spirits' Day costumes aren't they? What are you going to choose for yours?" he asked, guessing that that was what Colette must have been thinking about.

"Oh, I don't have a costume on Spirits' Day, Grandmother says that it's not something very Chosen-like to do," Colette said quietly.

Lloyd then realised what the slight hint of the other emotion on Colette's face had been before he'd started talking to her, sadness, and wanted to make her feel better.

"Dad and I don't really do anything much for Spirits' Day either, in fact I don't really know what sort of things people in the village do for it," he said, hoping that the fact that she wasn't the only one who celebrated would make her feel less lonely about it.

"Spirits' Day? Costumes and going round asking for sweets and lanterns and songs and games with apples and stuff I think," Genis said as he joined them at Colette's desk, having heard the last part of the conversation. Lloyd winced slightly, telling Colette what she was missing out on wasn't going to help. Then he noticed something odd about what Genis had said.

"You think?" he asked.

"Yeah, I don't really join in, other than sometimes making sweets that Raine hands out. But I've seen a few things when I've looked out of the window," Genis replied. Lloyd realised that all of those activities probably wouldn't be much fun without friends to enjoy them with. Then his face lit up as he had an idea.

"We should have a Spirits' Day party at my house, the three of us!" he exclaimed happily.

"And Noishe?" Colette asked.

"If he wants to join in why not?" Lloyd smiled.

"Ah, I'm not sure if Grandmother and Father will let me join in though," Colette said quietly, her tone changing, a little sad as she realised the fun she had been imagining might not be possible for her.

"Leave that to me and dad, he got them to agree to your birthday weekend, I bet he can get permission for this too. Oh, and he could make us costumes, those are important right?" Lloyd grinned.

"I'm not sure I want a costume, don't you think we're a bit old..." Genis started.

"Oh, costumes sound so much fun!" Colette said, clasping her hands together excitedly, happy that the prospect of her joining in might be possible after all.

Genis rolled his eyes slightly, if Colette liked the idea that'd be it, Lloyd would insist on it. He guessed he could live with wearing a costume, as long as it wasn't too silly.

"Are you sure your dad wouldn't mind though, that could be a lot of work, maybe we should make our own," Colette thought out loud. Lloyd shook his head, knowing that his father's sewing skills were better than theirs.

"I think he'd think it would be fun. We could do some of the other things to prepare for the party," he said.

"I could make some sweets," Genis suggested.

"I could bring some apples, the tree in the garden's got some that should be ripe on it soon," Colette said.

"And I can make some decorations, perfect," Lloyd beamed, before realising that he wasn't sure exactly what decorations a Spirits' Day party should have. He shrugged slightly, there was probably a book in the school library that would have something in it that could help. Normally he didn't like extra homework, but if it was to make something fun for his friends then it would be worth it.

A week or so later Lloyd was excitedly walking down the path to his house with his friends, Noishe and Dirk behind them, eager to show them the decorations he and his father had made. The book he'd found hadn't been that much of a help, but it had included a bit about lanterns made from pumpkins so they'd made several of those, and he'd gotten the impression that spooky seemed to be important so they'd included a few things to make that atmosphere, although not too much, he wanted the evening to be fun rather than really scary.

He also couldn't wait to see Colette's reaction to the costume his dad had made for her. Dirk had taken measurements for making costumes for her and Genis but hadn't told them what he was planning to make, deciding it would be fun to surprise them. Lloyd had seen him working on the costumes though, and was sure Colette particularly would love hers.

As they got close to the house he stopped and told his friends to wait for a moment while he went and lit the candles in the lanterns then ran ahead to do so. Colette's gasps of delight when they walked up to the house made him smile, and he was pleased to see that Genis's expression showed that he liked the decorations too.

"You guys did a pretty good job carving the lanterns, they look neat," Genis said, kneeling next to one to get a closer look.

"You even carved a dog one!" Colette gleefully exclaimed as she pointed to it.

"There's a few more inside too," Lloyd said, opening the door to invite them in, pleased that Colette had noticed the lantern he'd carved with making her smile in mind.

They all walked in and Lloyd lit the remaining lanterns while Dirk fetched the costumes. He passed Colette hers and Lloyd looked up, catching the big smile forming on her face as she unfolded it and realised what it was, the hooded top made from soft material had ears on the hood and a tail on the back.

"There's even paw pads on the paws!" she squeaked with joy as she spotted the ends of the sleeves, almost reaching forward to hug Dirk before blushing slightly as she realised that her behaviour was becoming rather less formal than it usually was and should be.

"Thank you so much!" she said, her voice calmer, before taking off her overcoat and putting the top on over her dress. Dirk nodded at her, said that she was welcome, then moved over to Genis, passing him the parts of his costume from the box he'd put them all in.

"A pirate?" Genis said, looking at the hat. That was alright, not too childish, and the hat was pretty cool. "Thanks!"

Dirk gave Lloyd his then passed a couple of items to Colette.

"Lloyd told me you wanted Noishe to be able to join in, so I made him something, but I think you're probably the only one who'd be able to convince him to wear it," he chucked at her. Colette unfolded the cape and smiled at the little bow tie. She moved over to the arshis and told him that having a costume if he was going to celebrate Spirit's Day was important, and that he'd look handsome in it. Noishe whined slightly and gave a little huff but allowed her to put the cape and bow tie on him. Then she looked up and saw that both Lloyd and Dirk had their costumes on now too, a mage for Lloyd and a ghost-style one for Dirk.

"Apparently the costumes are supposed to be disguises, so dad made us all something different," Lloyd said as he moved over to the table, pointing out a small barrel filled with water. "And this is for one of the games, you're supposed to put apples in it and try to get one out with your mouth, not using your hands."

He decided not to mention that there were other games, including ones with the apples, he'd read about. Most of them seemed to be superstitious, a number of them being about future marriage, and he had a feeling Genis would end up teasing him if he shared that knowledge. Much better just to stick to the simple, fun sounding game.

Colette grabbed the apples from her bag and put them into the barrel where they floated and bobbed on the water's surface.

"That doesn't seem too hard, I'll have a go," Genis said, shortly regretting it as he realised that actually it was harder than it looked. Eventually he managed to catch one though, then challenged Lloyd to get one faster as the older boy gently teased him for taking so long at the game he'd claimed didn't seem difficult.

Lloyd started to lean forward but stopped as Colette put a hand on his shoulder.

"Your hat'll fall in the water," she said, spotting that it didn't have a strap to keep it in place. She took it off his head and put it on her own, causing the rest of the room's occupants to laugh.

"I don't think I've ever seen a dog mage before," Genis chuckled.

"Well, it's Spirits' Day, and Lloyd said the costumes were disguises, so maybe dogs can disguise themselves too, like Noishe is," Colette smiled.

The game continued, causing lots of smiles and laughter. Even Noishe joined in, managing to snatch an apple out of the water faster than any of the others, although Lloyd insisted that his record wasn't fair and shouldn't count as he had bigger jaws than the rest of them. Then they all went outside again and sat beside the bonfire that Dirk lit, then put some potatoes wrapped in foil into when it was hot enough.

"We found out another tradition is spooky stories around the bonfire," Lloyd said, looking over to his father, who he knew could tell some really good spooky stories. He wasn't disappointed, the story Dirk told was an appropriately eerie one, although one that wasn't too scary, just a fun type of spooky.

He took a turn telling another story as did Genis then they all looked over to Colette.

"I, uh, don't really know any scary stories like that," she said, looking down at the ground. Some of the stories she'd come across in her religious studies had certainly been frightening but she didn't think they were the type of stories that were right for this evening.

"Why don't you make one up then?" Lloyd suggested. Colette nodded, not wanting to disappoint her friends, then sat quietly thinking for a few moments.

"OK, once upon a time there was a dog whose food kept going missing. Every night he went into the kitchen to have his evening snack but even though he'd heard his human putting the food out for him and he hadn't eaten it the bowl was empty. One night he decided to stay in the kitchen the whole evening to try and find out what was happening. He waited and waited and started to get sleepy, and as his eyelids started to droop he heard a loud SQUEAK!" she made the noise loudly and waved her hands slightly for emphasis.

"The dog jumped, fully awake and a little frightened as he looked around for the source of the mysterious noise. Then suddenly he spotted a small, strange shape shuffling along the floor," Colette continued, pausing for a moment to create an atmosphere. Then she decided that that was spooky enough, and finished the story.

"It was a hedgehog who had gotten in through the pet door. It walked over to the bowl and stated to eat the dog's food. At first the dog was annoyed, but then he realised the hedgehog needed to find food to help it survive hibernation, so he decided to share and they became friends," she finished, nodding with a happy expression on her face.

"That story, uh," Lloyd started.

"It wasn't scary at all," Genis shook his head.

"It was, for the dog, he didn't know if it was a monster or a ghost or something eating his food, and if it was a mean hedgehog it might have pricked him with its spines," Colette huffed before blushing as the others laughed gently. Noishe gave a little whine, giving his support for her point.

"It's OK. Maybe you'll do better at designing a lantern, we saved a few pumpkins to carve together," Lloyd smiled as he stood up and went to fetch them.

Colette's design, which Lloyd helped her carve, was, they decided, more of a success, even if it was also dog themed. It was definitely fun though, Lloyd thought, as was the rest of the evening, lantern carving, eating sweets, the potatoes and a special cake Dirk had baked lucky items into for them to find. As he yawned, snuggled in a comfortable heap with his friends and Noishe by the embers of the fire, he thought that maybe they should start their own traditions, including having a party together every year. Although he'd better tell Colette well ahead of time, he had the feeling she'd need longer to prepare for telling a story next time. Or maybe her telling a story that wasn't scary at all could be their very own tradition, that was surely more original than special than anything he could imagine the village children would do. Pleased with his idea he smiled and nodded to himself, before taking his hat back from where it had remained perched on Colette's head all evening and putting it back on his own, tilting it down a little as he closed his eyes and allowed the gentle sounds of the dying crackles of the fire and his friends' relaxed, sleepy breathing to lull him into a peaceful nap.


End file.
